Since the development of the first IQ test by Alfred Binet in the early 1900s, we humans have been interested in understanding human mental aptitude. How smart are we? Smarter than our peers? Smarter than average (i.e., an IQ over 100)? What’s more important, IQ or street smarts? Common sense? And then when we realized relating to other humans was as important as pure intelligence researchers like Peter Salovey and John Mayer started measuring emotional intelligence, EQ. I believe the rapid development of AI and machine learning will bring about yet another measure of human intelligence, a machine quotient, MQ.
The seeds of MQ are already showing up in the coverage of generative AI. Prompt writing, the skill of writing prompts that get useful and efficient responses from AI tools, is rapidly becoming a critical engineering skill. (Covered by the WSJ and fellow substacker The Algorithmic Bridge). And it’s not hard to project how important the interface to machines will be in the future. Like all skills, some people will be better at engaging with AI than others. Want to be a tech guru and developer in the future? You will need to be skilled at talking with and training machines.
I explore this in my soon to be published novel, Futureproof. In Chapter 11 our main character is doing an AI-led “data cleanse” to tidy up his online presence:
The ex-brain next pulled out a document Joe hadn’t seen in years: his original intelligence assessment that Fulham & Mayson had conducted when he was applying for his first job out of law school. It was the standard three-part assessment covering IQ for traditional mental capacity, EQ for emotional ability relating to other humans, and MQ for machine relationship capacity. Joe remembered sitting for the tests in an all-day session, which included answering questions on a screen, talking with psychologists, and a long session coding with a computer system. It was an advanced AI system, but not nearly as smart as the ex-brains that would be developed several years later.
Joseph Watson Intelligence Assessment
IQ: 142
EQ: 145
MQ: 151
He wasn’t off the charts in any one area, but his balance across the three areas was rare. Joe remembered Winston extending the formal offer to join the firm. “Look at these test scores,” he had said. “A man for all seasons!” Joe was flattered and excited. Maybe not the man for all seasons, but thankfully for this season, he thought to himself. He was not surprised that across all the scores, his machine quotient was the highest.
I believe this is where we are headed. As technology changes, what it means to be “smart” will change too. Just like CAD replaced the engineering draftsman, or synthesizers changed the creation of music, AI tools will be a more fundamental shift in how we perform all tasks from the creative to the scientific. And if it’s important to success, it will be important to measure.